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Chapter 47: Sermon of Imam Sajjad in Madina

Our discourse with regard to the study of the event of Karbala is now nearing its end, and its last part which cannot be dispensed with, is the sermon which the fourth Imam delivered in the precincts of Madina and in which he informed the people of Madina of what he saw during the course of this sacred rising.

Imam Sajjad praised Allah and thanked Him for the extreme sufferings which he had to bear and then summarized the event of Karbala in a few sentences. In his short and precise speech he said: "Allah is to be praised in all circumstances. He made us bear great hardships. A great breach has taken place in Islam. My father Abu Abdillah (Imam Husayn) and his dear ones and companions have been killed. His women and children were made captives. My father's head was fixed on a spear and shown round the different Islamic cities".

It is evident from the speech of the Imam that he did not want to speak only with the object of expressing his sadness and creating a touching atmosphere. He really wanted to put the enemies of Ahlul Bayt to shame and to summarize their oppressions in clear words and bring them to light by means of these brief sentences. He also said: "O people! We were treated as if we were infidels and apostates, although we had not committed any crime or sin and had not in any way betrayed Islam. By Allah, if the Prophet of Allah had ordered them to fight against us they would have done nothing more than they did".

The sermon of the Imam came to an end. The members of the Holy family arrived in their houses. They recorded forever in the name of Bani Hashim the honor of devotion and self-sacrifice in the path of truth and placed the names of their enemies in the category of tyrants and oppressors. They made patent this honor for themselves and this disgrace for their enemies by means of historical evidence which they placed at the disposal of the unbiased pages of history. It is not now possible for anyone to tamper with history, divest Bani Hashim of their good name and obliterate the disgrace and ill fame of others.

The discourses and speeches which Ahlul Bayt delivered during their journeys from Madina to Makkah, from Makkah to Iraq, from Iraq to Syria and from Syria to Madina are recorded in the pages of history. It is, therefore, no longer possible to change the facts of history, to rearrange the positions of the martyrs in the path of Allah. The truthful and self-sacrificing persons cannot now be divested of their honors and good name and the liars and the oppressors or persons devoid of virtue cannot be shown as manly and sacrificing persons.

It is also not possible to do anything so that history may become unthankful and ungrateful and may ignore the services of sincere persons and conceal the evidence in their favor which is available with it, or may commit breach of trust in the matter of documents regarding their virtue, magnanimity and sinlessness. So long as the evidence of history regarding the ancients is available it will testify to the purity, infallibility, faith, piety, religiousness, and godliness of Imam Husayn and his companions and will speak about the oppression and egotism of his enemies.

History is the only recourse which should be resorted to for the study of various events, because the lies and fables coined by those given to idle talking and writing cannot deprive history from distinguishing truth from falsehood, and wherever there is any doubt it can be removed in the light of its firm verdicts.